Palm kicks off Euro 3G smart-phone R&D drive

Palm has opened an R&D centre in Ireland, the better to create custom smart-phone applications for its European, Middle Eastern and African carrier customers, the company said today.

The R&D facility, located in Airside Business Park in Swords, County Dublin next door to Palm's existing European Operations and Supply Chain centre, was established with the help - for which read tax breaks, grants and/or other incentives - of the Ireland Development Agency.

In addition to developing "mobile operator-specific services and applications", the operation will help develop "core, leading-edge technologies, such as 3G/UMTS, to help Palm accelerate the delivery of next-generation smart phones to European mobile operators", the company revealed. It will also work on product certification and quality assurance.

Indeed, the move is a sign that Palm needs to up its game in Europe, particularly now that Nokia is gearing up to offer an email-oriented smart phone, the E61, which while is primarily pitched at the Blackberry market, could also impact Treo sales.

The E61 is due Q1 2006, just after Motorola's Q, with a similar Blackberry-like form-factor, arrives in the US. The Treo line is also up against HTC's Windows Mobile-based carrier-branded smart phone, which typically offer a broader feature-set than the Palm machine. ®